Figure 5.

Hypothesis for the mutual regulation of the pollen hoarding syndrome traits by IIS/TOR signaling and JH action in: (A) late foraging workers who bias foraging loads toward nectar (low strain) and (B) early foraging workers who bias the foraging loads toward pollen (high strain). Differences in JH titer, apoptosis-associated genes, and potentially hormone sensitivity during larval development interact resulting in highly variable adult ovary sizes. Ovary size then influences adult behavior, maturation, and hormonal dynamics. Several genes at the intersection of the IIS and TOR pathways are present in genetic regions associated with pollen hoarding traits. We argue that functional differences at the intersection of the IIS and TOR pathways could result in large differences in how information from these central pathways are integrated and result in the differences in JH responsiveness associated with behavioral maturation and foraging collection observed in the pollen hoarding strains.